GOTHENBUIIGH ROCKS. 1750. 5 



mouldered away b ; as we find in Holland, and 

 other countries, v.hich are in want of woods, 

 and where turf has been in ufe for a long 

 time. Yet I know that the foil in fuch moffes 

 or moors, where- heath is not yet rooted, is 

 ufed aifo for turf, efpecially where there is no 

 choice. It has been obferved, that turf-earth 

 is a fort of foil produced from mouldered 

 plants ; and feems to confifl chiefly of a moul- 

 dered, red mofs, Sphagnum palufire, Linn, 

 which in Weflrogothia is called hweetare Mofs 

 (and from this probably the moffes, Maffkr, 

 take their name ; which elfe are called Myror, 

 perhaps from Mytor, ants, or pifmires, for 

 they frequently are met with in this mofs) ; 

 I myfelf found this mofs in a woody moor, 

 every where at a fathom's depth, and always 

 frefh. 



b Erica, heath, never grows in turf moors before they 

 are quite dry ; for it cannot bear wet, End often perifhts 

 when the place where it grows is under water, as Dr. 

 L'mnrtus has obferved in his Iter Zcanicum. But the Erica 

 myricte folio hirfuta, Bauh. pin. 485. grows in marfliy 

 moiTes and moors; and I have found this variety of heath 

 (which is uncommon in Germany) in Mecklenburg], 

 amongft the ledum paluftre, or marfh ciftus, and the vacci- 

 nium uliginofum, great bilberry buih. But in what manner 

 the common fmooth heath changes into this rough fort is 

 unknown to me, and is worthy of farther enquiry. 1). S. 



B 3 Decern- 



